Parent/Carer Forum minutes

Wednesday 9^th July 2025

Attendees:

Mr Hornsey and 5 parents

Agenda

1. Home Learning
2. Smartphone Free Childhood (Solihull Schools’ campaign) update
3. Perceptions of and language associated with Bullying
4. AOB

Home Learning

• Greswold’s updated Home Learning overview for 2025-26 was shared.  It included information about Reading, Maths, English and a change to topic based homework tasks. There is also a section included about life skills.
• Mr Hornsey explained that the updated plan had been a work in progress for the last few months and that he had sourced feedback from Secondary Schools and even visited ex-pupils at Lode Heath to see how best Greswold can prepare children in the future.
• All weekly Home Learning activities will be based on learning already covered in class to help children become more independent.
• Creative project based homework tasks will be reduced in order to utilise other approaches to promoting the relationship between parents and their children’s learning. 
• The general consensus amongst parents was that it was fair and they understood the changes.
• From next year, children in Y1-6 will received Home Learning folders to store paper based activities with one parent suggesting that a Phonics Mat would be a good idea to give Reception and Y1 parents, and be stored in the folder. 
• School will look into what other helpful materials can be stored in the folder to help children with their Home Learning.

2) Smartphone update

• Nearly 70 primary and secondary schools have signed up to the campaign which was originally instigated by Alderbrook School.
• The Solihull Schools’ campaign is separate to the national campaign called the Smartphone Free Childhood.
• A schools’ and parent liaison has been appointed as part of the Solihull Schools’ initiative to move the agenda forwards and to ensure everyone’s voice is heard.
• There is a Greswold member of staff who has also volunteered to be a school liaison to the schools’ initiative.  
• Whatever happens, Greswold’s approach will be in line with fellow schools.

Bullying

• A parent had asked for clarification of feedback given to the school community following our recent parent survey.  ‘There is more work to be done in relation to understanding what bullying is and how school deal with incidents. 60 parents out of the 200 reported that their child had been bullied and less that 60% of those thought school had dealt with it effectively’ was the comment that required clarification.  
• Admittedly, the question is somewhat generic and part of national parental surveys and didn’t include a time limit.  Next time, we will add ‘over the last 12 months’.
• A discussion was then had about the definition of bullying and how, at times, concerned parents have used the term when the incidents in question have not been cases of bullying.
• The Anti-Bullying Policy was explained highlighting the fact that when incidents are investigated, to be a confirmed case of bullying, there has to be an imbalance of power, actions need to be deliberate and incidents have to be deemed as an ongoing issue.  Only then can a case be confirmed as bullying.
• The number of confirmed cases of bullying over the last 12 months at Greswold was shared with parents.  There were two cases, both resolved quickly with one being an out-of-school case of cyber bullying.

AOB

• Nursery start time is 8:30am in the morning.  There isn’t a ten-minute window similar to Reception and KS1 start times due to the need for Nursery aged children to access school confidently while there aren’t many other families arriving.  It’s also difficult for staff to keep coming back out to collect late pupils.  
• If parents have accessed Nursery after 8:30am, it will have been a one-off so school would encourage all Nursery families to arrive on time to promote an ethos of punctuality and respect.  If for some reason this isn’t possible, please sign in at the main school office.
• A concern was shared by a parent about Monkhouse uniform providers now based in Solihull centre. They seem to charge a delivery fee if they haven’t got stock in as opposed to Midland Schoolwear in Acocks Green which will order it quickly without additional charge.  This is a chance to remind all parents that Greswold uniform doesn’t have to be branded and there is an order service for ‘Nearly new / second hand’ uniform free of charge available at school.
• Finally, some of the parents who attended shared the fact it was a shame more parents didn’t attend Parent / Carer Forum as they found it extremely useful and reassuring to find out matters relating to Greswold.  Mr Hornsey will consider other options to publicise the meetings more.

Mr Hornsey

Deputy Headteacher

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